Who Are You Really?

As promised, because I failed on posting last month, here is the second one for this month. I've been thinking about this lately and for a person like me who likes to imagine the impossible, create crazy stories and universes in my head, and be overly curious about things I do not know, this is something that fascinates me. What am I talking about? I'm talking about Who. Are. You...Really?

I break it down this way. Everyone has three sides to them. The first is how you appear to your family, friends, and everyone else in the world. Now this can be broken down even further because of how your family sees you is slightly different then how your friends see you, but for this post I'm only focusing on the parts that you willingly show of yourself. The second side is that which supposedly no one (or the outside world) knows about you. These are emotions, thoughts, likes, dislikes, things that have taken place in your life, etc that you are pretty sure only you know. The third is the things about you, that you don't even know. Continue to lend me your eyes as I explain.

First side: Now even though this side seems simple, it can actually be complex depending on who you are. What I mean by that is this: You may be a person who wears your heart on your sleeve and you hide almost nothing. Or you could fall at the other end of the spectrum where if you were to reveal all those things, your family would look at you like a complete stranger. For me, I'm near the middle. If you know me, and were to describe me to someone else as if you were beginning to write my biography, you'd be mostly right, but would lack some details. It's really hard to give a personal example because what I think people think about me could be completely wrong. And things I don't think people know or noticed, they do and have. The best way to experience this is talk to someone who really knows you. Ask them to describe you; good traits and bad, things you love and things you hate; things you would and wouldn't do, so on and so forth. Then see how their perspective differs from your own.

Second side: This side is like Two-Face from Batman. The things about you that you think no one knows can be both good and bad. Now for this example, I'm going to use personal things only and unless otherwise noted, these are things the general public outside of family and close friends may not know. Let's begin. Did you know that I hated writing as a kid and all the way through the 9th grade? Did you know that I was home schooled for the first eight years of my life? Did you know I was a straight A student until my sophomore year of high school and never came close to straight A's ever again? Did you know I actually had seven siblings (one died at birth)? Did you know I dislike a pat/slap on the back? Did you know my dream jobs would be a car mechanic or a sports talk show host on the radio? Did you know before I was baptized I was an extremely selfish person with major anxiety? Did you know I've never broken/fractured a bone, but can tell you a good number of times where it should've been much worse than that? Did you know that once you become a close friend to me, whether it was from childhood, high school, college, or adult hood that I'll think about you often, never forget you, your family, that I'll do crazy things like after not seeing you for 11 years drive 10 hours on a Tuesday and 10 hours back on a Thursday the same week (and this friend was not a female)? Did you know I have never turned off my phone at night for the possibility that someone needs my help and the person they called that late was me means I'm coming no questions asked. Did you know I've never had a girlfriend or kissed a girl? As you can see this list goes on and on. It touches all the different aspects I tried to mention above (shocking facts, personality, life moments, likes, dislikes). For me I love it when I learn something cool about someone or they reveal something to me that they've told no one before. And sometimes it's like a puzzle. You think you know someone, but there's so much more to them than meets the eye.

Third side: This side I strongly believe always exists, but it doesn't stop once you reach adult hood. What I mean by this is that as a child, there are traits and personalities you have that make you you and you will keep for the rest of your life. However, at this stage in life, you don't know who you really are. You begin to find these things out quickly and most times too fast once you hit high school.Then by the time you're done with your college age years, you think you have yourself down to a science. Maybe you do, but I'm telling you that there's things about you all the way through life that you don't even know and will take going through life to figure out. Some of my examples include going through school and not until my sophomore year did I realize I had a writing talent. I never thought I'd make a good lawyer and never wanted to be one, but through high school and college, people told me that I could easily become one. For the longest time I didn't know I flared my nostrils when I got excited. I knew I was kinda good with children, but didn't know how good until most of the preschoolers at Birchwood knew my name even if I didn't know theirs or how they told me they wished they could be in after care instead of going home (some of whom used to cry because they wanted to go home). I don't say these things to prop myself up, but rather to better explain my point.

Ultimately this is all taken from my 26 years of perspective and I could be missing some things or completely wrong in some areas. But this is my insight, opinions, and thoughts. I truly believe that if you want to understand/know someone better, including yourself, make lists for these three sides and find out who you really are.

The Riches of Romans

Normally for this month I post about everything I look forward to for the new year. But let's go against the norm for once. One of my goals for this year is to memorize chapter 8 of Romans. Why? well Romans is one of my favorite books in the whole bible and Romans 8 is my most favorite chapter in the entire bible. And no need to wonder why, for I'm about to explain.

Romans 8 opens up with a verse that'll have you hooked right out of the gate. "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus," People want to be told so many things that the world refuses to tell them. That they're beautiful, that they're smart, they're lovable, they're important, etc. And many many people fear judgment and condemnation. Romans 8:1 doesn't ask you how you're doing or ask where you've been, but instead announces that if you are in Christ, there is NO CONDEMNATION for you. Isn't that awesome? But wait. It get's better. Verse 2 states: "because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit of life set me FREE from the law of sin and death." So not only are you not condemned, you're FREE from the law of sin and death. and this is just the first two verses my friends.

Now I want to skip down a bit because I want to hit one other point for this post. Verse 11 says: "And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you." How does one have the Spirit living inside of him? Well it's like this. If someone knocks on your door and you open it and let them in, they are now inside your house and because they are alive, they are technically living inside your house. But if you don't open the door, they can't come in. The same goes for the Spirit. The Spirit of Christ comes knocking at the door of your heart. And if you believe into Christ and open the door to your heart, Christ's Spirit can come in. And what about the part of "giving life to your mortal bodies"? Aren't we already alive and have life? Yes. But the key word here is mortal. Mortal means a living being subject to death. All humans will face death. That is a fact. But another wonderful thing about believing in Christ is that when it's your time to go, the end won't be life ceasing to exist or hell for that matter, but instead your spirit, through Christ's Spirit will allow for a continuation of life beyond death. Meaning death is not the end.

Closing thoughts: In these three verses alone, we find that through the simple act of believing into Christ and allowing His spirit inside of us, we are not condemned, we are free from sin and death, and we have the promise of life after death...eternity. A few of the many reasons why I love Romans 8. As the year progresses, I will get into it more. Until next time.